Byron Janis Reads from Chopin and Beyond

Renowned concert pianist Byron Janis—the first student of Vladimir Horowitz at age 16—has had quite a remarkable career, making headlines around the world when he discovered two long–lost original Chopin manuscripts. In his new autobiography, Chopin and Beyond: My Extraordinary Life in Music and the Paranormal (Wiley; November 1), Janis and his wife Maria Cooper Janis (the daughter of actor Gary Cooper) chronicle his struggle to overcome severe arthritis and retrace his profound—and paranormal—relationship with Chopin. Below, Janis recalls the first of many unexpected events linked to the great composer and the secret scores he left behind.